Marquez: Far from the podium, fifth place was the most

Marc Marquez did not show encouraging form this weekend in Jerez, but he found it in the qualifiers, where he also won the fifth starting place for the Spanish Grand Prix with some help from the wind of rivals.

The racer Honda, after taking advantage of Friday's practice for a few tests of different settings, secured a direct place in Q2 in Saturday's third free practice. In the fastest twelve, he won fifth place in a 25-lap race in front of the home crowd. In the race, he will try to keep in touch with the leading racers and take advantage of potential opportunities, betting on the work done from the fourth practice, where he was preparing for the race with worn tires. “I’m happy with the unfolding of the qualifiers, as I was mostly trying to survive,” Marquez said. “I tried to follow other racers, drive at the border and also find a rhythm without the wind of others. But it seems that we are far from the pace that will be needed for the podium, but the fifth starting place in the race, which I expect to be difficult, will be of great help. ”

Marquez was again the subject of criticism for catching the wind of other racers. “If you follow another racer, you can gain in some areas, but in some parts of the track you can have problems because of that. In the past, others have followed me, of course I would have preferred it to be the same now. I will try to find something, ”he added.

After an unfortunate fall in the third practice, Pol Espargaro landed in the first part of the qualifiers, from which he was eliminated at the last minute by Johann Zarco. The Spaniard will start the race from 1th place, although with a 37.138: 1 lap he placed in Q2, he could easily take fifth place. “Today I lacked a bit of luck as I fell at the worst possible moment and thus wasted the opportunity to qualify directly for Q1,” he admitted. “In QXNUMX, I set a good enough time to start the race from fifth place and be the fastest Honda racer. Since I start the race in thirteenth place, I will have to attack from the very beginning. ”